Truth For Life

Guest (Male): Welcome to Truth For Life Weekend where we are beginning a study in the Gospel of Luke today. Alistair Begg opens the study by taking a closer look at Judas, the apostle who would betray Jesus. Is it possible you may be in similar danger of turning from Jesus and following your own evil desires? We’ll hear an important warning today.

Alistair Begg: Those of you who are familiar with the immense work of John Bunyan will perhaps recall the staggering way in which he closes his wonderful allegory that we know of as Pilgrim's Progress. As he describes the scene of faithful entering into the eternal glory, Bunyan writes, "And then I saw that there was a way to hell even from the gate of heaven, as well as from the city of destruction."

Bunyan was simply making clear what the New Testament says and the warning that it extends, both by precept and by example. He made clear to us that some professing Christians may not persevere in their profession of Christ right through to the end of their lives. The Bible makes it clear, experience confirms the fact, that some who profess to follow Jesus do not continue to the end and, therefore, will not be saved.

Nowhere do we have a more chilling illustration of this biblical truth than in the life of the individual who is the central character in the few verses that were read earlier. Judas Iscariot lives on in the pages of scripture as an awful warning to any who may be tempted to grow content with being involved just in the routine of Christian pilgrimage without ever having come to place their faith and trust in the Lord Jesus Christ, who is the head of the church and the Savior of those who believe.

This comes out as we turn to chapter 22. Here we are 180 verses away from the end of Luke's Gospel. For some of you, I know it can't come soon enough. It seems as though we've been studying Luke for years. That's because we have been studying Luke for years. The death of Jesus is now just around the corner. The context in which these events unfold is that of the celebration of the feasts. Unleavened Bread reminded the people that their forebears ate unleavened bread on the night before the deliverance in the Exodus.

Passover reminded them of the liberation which they'd known in being set free from the tyranny of Egypt. Every time on an annual basis that the thousands of people gathered in the city of Jerusalem, the national fervor would run high and the prospect of civil disobedience was real. Especially because all that was filling their minds was the thought of national liberation and the prospect that maybe this kingdom of God would come, perhaps in the words and in the activities of this Galilean carpenter, this amazing preacher, this wonderful man, all that they had anticipated with their forefathers of old may now dawn upon them.

The authorities were well aware of this. That's why in verse two, Luke tells us that those who were in the position of influence were looking for some way in order to get rid of Jesus. This is not something that had just emerged; it had been their preoccupation for some time. As we've gone through Luke, we've seen that it is a recurring pattern. As he challenges the religious authorities and as he points out the inadequacy of so much that they were doing, so their animosity towards him grew.

For example, at the end of 19, we read that every day he was teaching at the temple, but the chief priests and teachers of the law and the leaders among the people were trying very hard to kill him. They couldn't find a way to do it because of the people. That's the dilemma mentioned by Luke in these opening couple of verses. They wanted so desperately to get rid of Jesus, but they were afraid of the people. They were more interested in what the people had to say than in what Jesus had to say of them and to them.

Somehow or another, they needed to do this business under cover of darkness, perhaps when the Jerusalem crowds had dwindled, when things were getting back to normal. They shouldn't do it, they said to themselves, during any of these feasts, because they may become the catalyst for an insurrection that they would be unable to put down and then the authorities would come and deal with them at the same time.

Mark actually points to the cunning that was involved in their approach when he says they were looking for some sly way to arrest Jesus and to kill him. Not during the feast, they said to one another, or the people may riot. So that was the dilemma. We need to get rid of him; we can't get rid of him. At least we can't get rid of him now, with all of these people around. After all, there were so many people in the crowds who loved Jesus. Either they or members of their family had had their lives touched and changed by Christ.

There were people who were able to look out on the panorama of the Jerusalem scene and see it with their own eyes because Jesus had made them to see, Bartimaeus being one of them. There were little children who had now grown a little, and they had been there in the early days when Jesus had taken them and dangled them on his knee. There were families whose lives had been shattered by illness and by bereavement and Jesus had come and touched them and changed them.

How in the world were they going to achieve their purpose? Well, they could scarcely imagine that the way out of their dilemma was going to be provided by one of Jesus' inner circle. If they'd been sitting around for any length of time strategizing about how they could effect this, there wouldn't have been one of them who would have been prepared to say, "Well, you know, I've got an idea. Maybe one of the 12 will just hand him over to us." Don't be silly. Don't be silly. You mean those 12 individuals that are with him all the time? Who've been following him, hanging on his every word? Yes.

Then perhaps as they were in conference, the word came from the outer courtyard. We have a visitor. Who is it? Well, it's one of the 12. One of the disciples, yes. Which one? Well, it's not Peter, it's certainly not James, it's not John. We don't really recognize him. Apparently, his name is Judas, the Iscariot, the man from Kerioth, the Judean. What does he want? Well, I don't know, why don't we bring him in?

They bring him in, and Matthew 26 says then one of the 12, the one called Judas Iscariot, went to the chief priests and he asked, "What are you willing to give me if I hand him over to you?" What? We've been sitting in here just trying to figure out a way that we could do this. You come walking out of the darkness with a question like that? What are we willing to give you? What do you think, fellows? How about 30 pieces of silver? 30? I can do it for 30.

The way in which this is described to us by Luke is quite staggering. It says in verse three, "Then Satan entered Judas." Satan entered Judas. In other words, the devil had a huge active part in what now takes place. Not only in the words and activities of Judas himself, but indeed in the whole unfolding drama of the cross, the crucifixion, the death of Christ, and so on. You have the forces of hell unleashed against this heavenly prince.

Those of you who have good memories may recall that back in Luke chapter four, when we considered the temptation of Jesus in the wilderness, Luke wraps it up by telling us in verse 13 of chapter four that at that point the devil left him, waiting for an opportune time. Waiting for an opportune time. "I'll be back," he said, "when the moment is right, when the time is right." All of a sudden, the opportune moment seems to have dawned. It comes not in a vacuum; it never does. It comes in a person.

It comes in flesh and blood. The real deals that we are concerned with are not vacuum events. They're not strange, funny businesses up there. The real problems that you and I face are problems of flesh and blood, starting with my own flesh and blood. In the Qumran community, when they identified this view of the world, they wrote as follows in words that came out of the Dead Sea Scrolls: "In the hand of the Angel of Darkness is total dominion over the sons of deceit; they walk on paths of darkness. Due to the Angel of Darkness, all the sons of justice stray, and all their sins, their iniquities, their failings, and their mutinous deeds are under his dominion."

What Luke is telling us here is simply this: that Judas had surrendered to the power of Satan. He has allowed himself to come completely under the influence of the evil one. This is a reminder to us of what Paul is going to go on and tell the Ephesians later. Remember, he's going to say to them, "You don't wrestle against flesh and blood, but against spiritual wickedness in the heavenly places." You say, "But didn't you just contradict yourself? Didn't you just say that it wasn't up there, it was right down here in flesh and blood? And now you're telling us that Paul says it's not flesh and blood, but it's up there?" What do you mean? What does he mean? What does anybody mean?

The fact of the matter is this: the struggle is not ultimately human, but it is definitely human. Do you understand? There is a cosmic dimension to what is taking place. But the battle is not being fought somehow or another beyond our ken, beyond our understanding, beyond our involvement. No, the battle that is about to take place is a battle that is happening right down in a real moment in time, in a real individual, in an encounter with a real group of people.

Indeed, the cosmic dimension of what is taking place should not be overstated, lest we use it as a means of trying to exonerate Judas from any blame. I hear this all the time. "Well, poor old Judas, he had that... that was the reason he existed. Judas was invented so he could do that. Judas didn't have a part in it. Judas was an automaton. Judas was a pawn." No, he wasn't. No, he was not.

When you read of Judas being entered, being encountered by Satan here, what does it make you think? I bet more than 50%, when they read, "Then Satan entered Judas," think in terms of an unwelcome invasion. If you do so, you're wrong. You should be thinking of a welcomed invitation. Not that Judas somehow, although he was going in a totally different direction, was encountered by the devil and the devil manhandled him, wrestled him to the ground, and made him do something he didn't want to do. Not for a moment.

The devil comes alongside and says, "Hey, you don't want to go there, Jonah. I've got a boat going over here. You can get on it. It's leaving in 25 minutes." Anytime you don't want to do what you're supposed to do, you may be sure that the evil one stands close by offering you a wonderfully viable alternative in order that we might go down the road that Jesus says we ought not to walk.

Therefore, think of it in those terms. Don't envision Judas as somehow being involuntarily possessed. That would be to miss the point altogether. There is absolutely no hint—and you must search the scriptures yourself—there is no hint that he is unable to control his own actions. Rather, the inference is that he opened the door to Satan. He failed at the point that God had given warning of in Genesis four when He said, "Sin is crouching at the door; it desires to have you, and you must master it."

In my journey of Christian living, that is not an encounter, a battle that happened at a moment in time. That is an encounter and a battle that happens 60 seconds a minute, 60 minutes an hour for the whole of your life, that sin is crouching at your door and it desires to have you. That's the facts of human experience. But Judas opened the door. He did not resist the devil; Satan, therefore, did not flee from him.

Jesus had to suffer, but Judas did not have to be the traitor. Jesus had to suffer, but Judas did not have to be the traitor. Phillips gets at this by paraphrasing the opening phrase of verse three in this way: "Then a diabolical plan came into the mind of Judas." Then a diabolical plan—"diabolos" is a word for the devil in Greek—so the diabolical plan is now conceived in the mind of Judas. You will notice the volitional aspect of all that then takes place.

Not Judas somehow being propelled by an unseen force over which he has no control and yet which apparently controls him. No, but Judas making his own choices. So you read in verse four, notice all the doing words. Those are the verbs; that's what we learned at school. And Judas went to the chief priests. He said, "Well, I think I'll go down to the chief priests. I'll go find these characters." And so he did.

When he got there, he discussed with them. He had a conversation. He said, "I want to talk to you about what you're willing to give me." We just saw that in Matthew 26. What are you prepared to do for me if I do this for you? The kind of transaction that takes place every day in the process of business. I can supply this; how much are you prepared to pay me?

Having discussed with them, discovering they were delighted, and they having agreed to give him money, notice verse six, he consented. You see the volitional aspect of this. He said, "Okay, it's a deal. Let's do this." Having consented, he watched for the moment of opportunity in order that he might hand him over. I mention that simply to make the point that here we have Judas acting on his own cognizance.

It's actually a reminder to us of what James teaches about the nature of temptation itself, isn't it? When tempted, James 1:13, no one should say, "God is tempting me." For God cannot be tempted by evil, nor does he tempt anyone. Well then, what happens? Each one is tempted when, by his own evil desire, he's dragged away and enticed. After desire has conceived, it gives birth to sin, and sin, when it is full-grown, strangles the life out of the person.

By his own evil desire, the things that were going on in the heart and mind of Judas as he followed Jesus, as he moved with the crowd, as he joined his colleagues in the process, there were things going on inside of him that were evil desires. Instead of acknowledging his need of Christ, he tolerates these evil desires. All week, I've been thinking as my mind went into neutral: Why? Why did Judas do this?

I started thinking, how could Judas do this? That question didn't last very long at all because I said I think I know exactly how he could do it. I very quickly get to the answer, how could Peter ever deny Jesus? When I find myself bottling it when I have an opportunity to tell somebody that I love Christ and that I want to follow him and serve him and I want to cough and splutter and try and move the conversation to something else? The "how" question is easy. How could he do this? I don't need to spend long on how.

But I am intrigued by why. Why? What's the motive here? What does he really get out of it? What would stir a man or a woman to such betrayal? Well, of course, we cannot answer categorically. We can only take inferences from the Bible and try and put together a composite picture. Let me suggest to you that it is impossible for us to answer the "why" question without considering the influence of money. Now, that's not exactly brilliant in its deduction, is it? Because after all, Jesus is betrayed by Judas, and you can't say Judas without saying 30 pieces of silver. You can't acknowledge the deed without the transaction that was taking place.

There was something going on in Judas about money. Matthew 26, remember, "How much will you give me? What will you give me?" In John chapter 12, after the lady has come with her alabaster jar of beautiful and very expensive perfume, which would have been kept by her for her dowry and marriage or for the embalmment of her in burial, she takes that and she breaks it at the feet of Jesus and she wipes his feet with her hair as an expression of self-sacrificing worship. John tells us that on that occasion, Judas got up on his high horse and he says, "This is a dreadful waste of money. After all, this could have been given to the poor."

Yes, but is that your real concern, Judas? No, John editorializes and he says of course Judas was not remotely concerned about the poor. He was the keeper of the purse and he routinely dipped his hand into the coffers. He had a pilfering mind and a pilfering hand. When he'd heard Jesus tell the parable of the shrewd manager where the master says to the manager, "That was a pretty good thing you dreamt up there, coming up with that idea how to get yourself out of your problem," in Luke 16, Jesus then goes on to say, "Use money to make friends for yourself."

You can imagine Judas saying, "Now we're going! That's the kind of thing I've been talking about, Jesus! Now we're getting it! Now we've got a parable about what I love to think about: money, using money, getting money. Come on, Jesus, that's a wonderful story. Let's just cut it off right there." Then he listens as Jesus says, "And let me just say another thing. If you have not been trustworthy with someone else's property—Judas is saying, oh, this is getting a little close—how do you think you will ever be entrusted with heavenly property?"

"Let me just summarize it," says Jesus, "and tell you this: Nobody can serve two masters, because either you will be devoted to one and hate the other, or you will love the one and despise the other. But you cannot serve God and money." Judas is saying to himself, "Oh, I was so desperately hoping that I could."

The love of money, says Paul to Timothy as a young pastor, the love of money is a root of all kinds of evil. And some people, eager for money—notice the phrase, not having money, not with a lot of money, not with hardly any money; has nothing to do with the size of the bank account—people who are consumed with thoughts of money have wandered from the faith and have pierced themselves with many griefs. Could he have written that without at least Judas in his mind?

Why did you do this, Judas? Money's got something to do with it. That's why Paul, when he says to Timothy as a young man, says, "You better be careful or you can get sidetracked by possessions, by power, and by passion." Money, sex, and influence. The three things that sell the magazines in the racks. The three great dangers for everyone in a close position of leadership with Jesus. I don't think there has been someone fall out of the ranks of evangelical usefulness but that it may be traced to either money, sex, or power. Does this touch you at all? It should.

Guest (Male): You’re listening to Truth For Life Weekend with Alistair Begg. We’ll hear more about the betrayal of Jesus next weekend. You know, here at Truth For Life, one of the things we love is bringing you books that you can use to share the gospel with children. So we’re excited to tell you today about Alistair’s brand-new children’s book. It’s called J is for Jesus, enjoying who Jesus is from A to Z. This is a book you can read with your children or grandchildren as a daily devotion. It spells out the truth of who Jesus is and what he’s like and makes it understandable for children ages six and up. You’ll also find discussion questions that open the door to important conversations with your children about Jesus.

Find out more about the book J is for Jesus when you visit our website, truthforlife.org. Thanks for listening. Next weekend, we will learn how easily appearances can deceive, even inside the church. The Bible teaching of Alistair Begg is furnished by Truth For Life, where the learning is for living.